Beauty and the Beast Finale Recap: Past, Present... and Future?

Beauty and the Beast fans on Monday night laid witness to what the series finale would have looked like, had the CW drama not been renewed at the 11th hour for Season 3. Would it have satisfied, or left you hungry for more?

With Gabe on the loose and more beastlier than ever, Catherine sought answers in her ancestor Rebecca’s journals, which spun a story amazingly similar to what she and Vincent were going through here in the present, 160 years later. Alas, she also checked in with her father, who warned that if Vincent were to kill Gabe, no matter how justified, he likely would cross a point of no return for a beast. That said, Reynolds allowed that possibly Cat’s love for Vincent had “changed” the rules.

As Gabe taunted Vincent again and again — by killing Agent Knox, assaulting (yet oddly sparing?) JT — it was all Catherine could to keep Vincent at bay. In fact, she ultimately locked him up, his powers compromised by the gem. But than, just as Cat set out to bait Gabe with a trail of Vincent’s blood, it dawned on her — Rebecca lost her beast, Alistair, while trying to save him. (In flashback, we see how the townsfolk found caged Alistair and burned him at the stake.) So, Cat freed Vincent, setting the stage for the inevitable clash.

Laying in wait at a pool hall, Vincent chided Gabe for being a poor loser, saying that was his downfall. And then the boys started going at it, each getting in some good punches/tosses/body slams. But just as Gabe gained the upper hand on his adversary and went in for the kill, Catherine surfaced behind him and slapped the beast collar around his neck, the gem sapping his powers. Gabe made one last go at an old-fashioned human-style killing of Catherine, but she came out on top, spearing him with the business end of a pool cue.

After Cat got her badge back, she and Vincent raced to the hospital to check on JT, who was on death’s doorstep… and then wasn’t. His savior? The mysterious government agents who pulled Vincent out of prison last week to run tests. They said that, having seen what VinCat are capable of, they’d like the dynamic duo to join their super-secret organization, which apparently has a bead on other products of humans and weird science. Cat and Vincent mull the offer, but mainly end the hour/what could have been the series looking out over the river, eased back on a park bench, in each other’s arms without a care in the world, for once.